Nandi Governor Stephen Sang has revealed that he invited the Public Service Commission to audit his human resource staff after his internal team failed him twice.
In a Public Service Commission human resource audit recommendations report released in mid-August, close to 1,800 Nandi workers have lost their jobs for failing to meet legalised appointment procedures.
Sang admitted that they realised some of those given the responsibility to handle the human resource audit were actually part of the mess, and therefore they couldn’t get trusted results.
He has vowed to implement 100 percent of the recommendations of the PSC on Nandi HR audit staff, maintaining that it was the only way of professionalising the working fraternity in the County.
According to him, no County government had invited PSC to audit human resources and fully adopt the recommendations, and thus his decision was unprecedented.
“I realised we needed to fix this mess. I had done two other HR audits before. The ones I did were done internally; I used internal staff; no results that were useful came out of the process,” Sang disclosed.
The Governor noted that every staff member who had obtained an employment letter outside a legal process provided by the law was illegal and a nullity.
“We are not implementing a decision of the County Executive; we are implementing a decision of the Public Service Commission through their human resource audit that we asked as the County Government of Nandi,” he said.
“So after failing two times to sort out this HR mess, we decided to go for independent, constitutional commission to come and support us in this process,” the governor revealed.
While addressing the press on Friday, Governor Sang revealed the existence of ghost workers on the payroll after it emerged that some individuals were drawing money from the payroll but working outside Nandi County.
The Governor promised to initiate a process of recovering resources, which the County has lost after the overhaul of the payroll system.
“Somebody is on the payroll of Nandi County but working elsewhere. Those details are coming out clearly, and we will follow the due process, including the recovery of resources that were spent by the County Government of Nandi on the staff not providing services,” Sang vowed.
He assured to hold everyone to account for their actions, no matter how influential the affected are.
“It does not matter who the staff or individuals are related to. Whether they are relatives of the CECs, whether they are relatives of the Chief Officers, whether relatives to the County Public Service Board, relatives to the Deputy Governor, or even relatives of the Governor,” he said.
He expressed confidence that the Director of Criminal Investigation and various other investigative agencies are following up on reports forwarded to them.
Sang hinted that in the course of next week, there will be ground shaking reports that will hold to account any individual who issued out letters unprocedurally.
Governor Sang claimed that some staff are already coming out with evidence on how they used money to get appointment letters.
“Some of them took bribes, and I am happy that some of the staff are already coming out, bringing out evidence of how they used money to get appointment letters,” he said.
Sang criticised some of his aggrieved staff for spreading false reports about him and the entire process, warning that some details shared are against the Data Protection Act.
“I know we are stepping on the fingers and toes of very many people. Some of them are sharing manipulated information and sensitive details against the Data Protection Act; some are generating documents in cyberspace to taint my image and various County Offices as a way of blackmailing us. Those who think I will change my stand on this vigorous and fruitful process are wrong,” Sang went on.
Asked whether he personally instructed the fixing of some individuals in the payroll, the Governor responded: “There are only three categories of staff in which the governor plays a role: appointment of County Committee Executive Members, appointment of Chief Officers, and appointment of advisors. Any other allegations are false.”
By Geoffrey Satia
